• 48 features
  • Checked September 2026

Map of the Physical World

Tap any range, desert or river for its name and one fact, then press Quiz me.

Map of the Physical World

Name Date

Tap any feature to read, rename or leave it out

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48
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Write the name of each numbered feature.Answer key

  1. Rocky Mountains
  2. Appalachian Mountains
  3. Andes
  4. Alps
  5. Pyrenees
  6. Atlas Mountains
  7. Ethiopian Highlands
  8. Drakensberg
  9. Himalayas
  10. Ural Mountains
  11. Caucasus Mountains
  12. Great Dividing Range
  13. Tian Shan
  14. Altai Mountains
  15. Hindu Kush
  16. Sahara
  17. Gobi Desert
  18. Kalahari Desert
  19. Atacama Desert
  20. Rub' al Khali
  21. Great Victoria Desert
  22. Thar Desert
  23. Taklamakan Desert
  24. Namib Desert
  25. Sonoran Desert
  26. Amazon Basin
  27. Great Plains
  28. Tibetan Plateau
  29. Congo Basin
  30. West Siberian Plain
  31. Deccan Plateau
  32. Pampas
  33. Patagonia
  34. Greenland
  35. Arabian Peninsula
  36. Madagascar
  37. Scandinavian Peninsula
  38. Iberian Peninsula
  39. Borneo
  40. Kamchatka Peninsula
  41. Nile
  42. Amazon
  43. Yangtze
  44. Mississippi
  45. Congo
  46. Volga
  47. Danube
  48. Ganges

Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2. Licence: public domain.

Each feature is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a feature is answered.

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Mountains: Americas, Europe and Africa 8

  1. Rocky Mountains About 4,800 km long; highest point Mount Elbert, 4,401 m.
  2. Appalachian Mountains Runs about 3,300 km from Alabama to Newfoundland.
  3. Andes Longest continental range, 8,900 km; highest point Aconcagua, 6,961 m.
  4. Alps Mont Blanc, 4,807 m, is its highest peak.
  5. Pyrenees Divides France from Spain; Andorra sits in it.
  6. Atlas Mountains Highest peak Toubkal, 4,167 m, in Morocco.
  7. Ethiopian Highlands Called the Roof of Africa; mostly above 1,500 m.
  8. Drakensberg Reaches 3,482 m on the border of South Africa and Lesotho.

Mountains: Asia and Australia 7

  1. Himalayas Home of Mount Everest, 8,849 m, the highest peak on Earth.
  2. Ural Mountains Part of the boundary between Europe and Asia.
  3. Caucasus Mountains Mount Elbrus, 5,642 m, is Europe's highest peak.
  4. Great Dividing Range Over 3,500 km long; highest point Mount Kosciuszko, 2,228 m.
  5. Tian Shan Highest peak Jengish Chokusu, 7,439 m, in Kyrgyzstan.
  6. Altai Mountains Highest summit Belukha, 4,506 m; the Ob rises here.
  7. Hindu Kush About 800 km long, from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

Deserts 10

  1. Sahara World's largest hot desert, 9.2 million km².
  2. Gobi Desert Cold desert of Mongolia and northern China.
  3. Kalahari Desert Name means the great thirst; covers much of Botswana.
  4. Atacama Desert World's driest non-polar desert.
  5. Rub' al Khali Its name means Empty Quarter; part of the Arabian Desert.
  6. Great Victoria Desert Largest desert in Australia.
  7. Thar Desert Also called the Great Indian Desert; two-thirds in India.
  8. Taklamakan Desert Fills the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang.
  9. Namib Desert Runs over 2,000 km along the Atlantic coast.
  10. Sonoran Desert Home of the saguaro cactus.

Plains, plateaus and basins 8

  1. Amazon Basin Covered mostly by the world's largest rainforest.
  2. Great Plains Prairie and grassland east of the Rocky Mountains.
  3. Tibetan Plateau Also called the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau.
  4. Congo Basin Holds Africa's largest rainforest.
  5. West Siberian Plain Some of Earth's largest swamps and floodplains.
  6. Deccan Plateau Covers 422,000 km² between the Western and Eastern Ghats.
  7. Pampas Name is Quechua for plain; covers all of Uruguay.
  8. Patagonia Deserts, tablelands and steppes east of the Andes.

Peninsulas and islands 7

  1. Greenland World's largest island; part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
  2. Arabian Peninsula World's largest peninsula, 3.2 million km².
  3. Madagascar World's fourth-largest island.
  4. Scandinavian Peninsula Largest peninsula in Europe: Norway, Sweden, part of Finland.
  5. Iberian Peninsula Spain and Portugal; second-largest peninsula in Europe.
  6. Borneo World's third-largest island.
  7. Kamchatka Peninsula About 1,250 km long, in Russia's Far East.

Rivers 8

  1. Nile 7,088 km, the longest river in the world by most counts.
  2. Amazon Carries more water than any other river.
  3. Yangtze Longest river in China, 6,236 km.
  4. Mississippi 3,766 km from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.
  5. Congo Deepest recorded river in the world, about 220 m.
  6. Volga Longest river in Europe, 3,531 km, to the Caspian Sea.
  7. Danube 2,850 km, through or along ten countries.
  8. Ganges 2,525 km from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal.

How this list was compiled: Names, outlines and the continent of each feature: Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_geography_regions_polys and ne_50m_rivers_lake_centerlines (credited under the drawing), each feature's record read by script. Every detail line was read in the English Wikipedia article linked from its item and checked 2026-09-24. Heights are those articles' figures (Everest 8,848.86 m, 2020 Nepal–China survey, rounded to 8,849). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_geography_regions_polys (scale 1:50,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_50m_geography_regions_polys.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19; from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_rivers_lake_centerlines (scale 1:50,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_50m_rivers_lake_centerlines.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_admin_0_countries_lakes (scale 1:50,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_50m_admin_0_countries_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Equal Earth projection centred on 11°E. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)

How it works

This map of the physical world labels 48 features with no borders in the way: 15 mountain ranges, 10 deserts, 8 plains, plateaus and basins, 7 peninsulas and islands, and 8 great rivers.

Read the full guide

Mountains on a map of the world

The quiz asks the 15 ranges in two rounds: the Americas, Europe and Africa first, then Asia and Australia. Deserts, plains and plateaus, peninsulas and islands, and rivers follow. Thirteen small features, from the Pyrenees to the Namib, have a numbered ring.

A world map with mountains and rivers

The rivers round asks eight: the Nile, Amazon, Yangtze, Mississippi, Congo, Volga, Danube and Ganges. A tap on a river line counts for the river, so to find a desert or basin, tap its shading away from the lines.

Questions and answers

What are the major physical features of the world?

The great mountain ranges, such as the Himalayas, Andes, Rockies and Alps; the deserts, led by the Sahara, the largest hot desert; the basins of the great rivers, such as the Amazon and Congo; high plateaus like Tibet's; and large peninsulas and islands.

What is the highest mountain range in the world?

The Himalayas, with Mount Everest at 8,849 meters on the Nepal–China border and more than 100 peaks above 7,200 meters. The Andes are the longest continental range, at about 8,900 kilometers.

Is there a map of rivers and mountains together?

Yes, this one. The 15 ranges and 8 great rivers share one map, so you can see the Ganges start below the Himalayas and the Volga run south past the Urals to the Caspian Sea.

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